TIM HOWARD: I played 152 games with Mikel Arteta… the manager leading Arsenal vs. Manchester City is not my friend. He has changed. He is no longer the teacher’s pet with special privileges – and that’s a good thing

There are only certain Premier League managers, such as David Moyes at Everton, Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United, Pep Guardiola at Manchester City and Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool, who have truly taken over a club and made it their own. .

They came in and said: ‘Anything you say is fine. I run this entire club, from what the players eat and drink to how they play.’

The special thing about Mikel Arteta is that he did it after only two years at Arsenal. He got rid of players and said: ‘This is going to be the way it is.’ He built that culture, he is the figurehead and he achieved all that in a very short time.

I played 152 games with Mikel at Everton; only Phil Neville and Leon Osman played with him more during his entire career.

I’ve interviewed him several times as a manager and each time, before the cameras start rolling, it’s been like old times: he calls me Timmy, there’s a lot of smiles and giggles. It’s all very casual. He is the Mikel with whom he shared a dressing room.

But then the interview starts, it goes into game mode and it has to be the person you want to portray. That’s not my friend. That Mikel the manager. He has changed.

When I first arrived at Everton, he was one of the jewels in Moyes’ crown. He was by far our best footballer. He was a really good guy and really attractive. But Mikel was always someone who took football very, very seriously. There was never a day off.

He was meticulous in the locker room, in the dining room and on the bus. He was always studying film or talking about tactics. He was someone to admire, to reflect his lifestyle.

Many players don’t mind that much: they just hop on the bus, plane, or train and fall asleep. I was always lost in my own world: headphones on, listening to music or watching a movie, maybe chatting with the guys around my table. I wasn’t studying film!

We would have team meetings, watch tape and discuss tactics. The coach was there, but Mikel was always an important voice in the room, talking to other players, even showing them: “We have to play here, you have to find the pass here.” He wasn’t afraid to say, ‘I see it and this is how we should do things.’ He never clashed with Moyes. It was just a matter of getting certain players on the same page.

I didn’t have to give you a reprimand. He was very stern and he would tell you, ‘Timmy, this is not enough.’ And I never had to answer him. Because this guy crosses the line. When he says it’s not enough, I have to look in the mirror and realize: he’s right. And there were many of those days!

In fact, Moyes made sure to give a lot of responsibility to Mikel: leading the team and directing us tactically. He wanted the responsibility and was able to take it. He was Moyes’ general midfielder, his tactician, his little technical genius. The boss loved him. In Moyes’ eyes, he could do no wrong.

But he brought it every day: he was always training, he was always in shape. So Mikel had special privileges when it came to returning to Barcelona to see a physio, or bringing his physio.

That’s normal: the best players are more forgiving because they are constantly producing for the coach.

Mikel was a teacher’s favorite but he was definitely also one of the boys. Not many players achieve that; you’re usually on one side or the other of the line. He was a special player and a special person.

Mikel is different now. He has changed… but I think in a very good way. As a manager, you need to figure out what your voice will be and how you want to project yourself.

Nowadays it is quite closed and does not reveal many secrets. That’s no surprise: he studied under Pep at Manchester City.

When you look at who he has become as a manager, he has a bit of Moyes in him too.

Mikel had cunning, tactical awareness and magical feet. But David and his teams always had toughness and he turned Mikel into a tough midfielder.

However, there are some things he didn’t learn at Everton. Burst You will never Walk alone during training, for example! But as a coach, you have to look deeper than you ever did as a player. You have to find small nuances to give your team an advantage. Football is constantly evolving and you can’t be afraid of things that can hurt you or fail you.

As long as the players in the locker room accept it, other opinions don’t matter. And right now there is enormous acceptance from that team.

International injuries show Fergie was thinking about the future

Perhaps this week proved once again that Sir Alex Ferguson was ahead of his time. John Stones, Kyle Walker, Manuel Akanji and Andy Robertson all suffered injuries on international duty.

Fergie identified early on the importance of letting the big players pass in the final stretch of the title race. But there were also a lot of myths surrounding my former United boss, Fergie Time, for example. Forcing players to miss international football was another.

I’m sure there have been times when someone conveniently “pulled a hamstring” in training the day before an international break. But I’ve never seen a player pressured to retire. I wasn’t aware of that, at least not as a somewhat naive young man in his early twenties.

I was certainly never asked to leave an American team. Maybe I wasn’t that important!

Good on Louis Rees-Zammit for coming from rugby and agreeing a deal with the Kansas City Chiefs. It’s almost impossible to do; That’s why we see so few athletes making the switch.

I have been in elite dressing rooms on both sides of the Atlantic and the two cultures have begun to reflect each other.

But here we are even more optimistic and direct. And here, American athletes are not scrutinized the way Premier League players are, or even rugby players at the highest level.

In the United States there is more freedom to express yourself. It’s a cultural thing: Americans want to stand out, Brits want to align.

I lived that culture and enjoyed it. But I think Rees-Zammit will thrive in this new environment. In the UK, it is almost frowned upon to express yourself openly, while in the United States it is celebrated. You are capable of being yourself and if you take it to the field, everything will multiply from there.